Steam turbine installation

ABSTRACT

In a steam turbine installation, a condenser is disposed on both sides of a low-pressure turbine and the condenser along with the low pressure turbine are enclosed within a pressure-tight cylindrical housing. The housing supports both the low-pressure turbine and condenser on an external foundation. The housing also includes a removable V-shaped segment extending along the entire longitudinal length, of the housing and disposed at an elevation above the turbine shaft. The V-shaped segment is of such width that the inside casings and rotors of the low-pressure turbine can be removed through the opening remaining after the V-shaped segment is removed.

United States Patent 1191 Engelke et al.

[ STEAM TURBINE INSTALLATION [75] Inventors: Wilhelm Engelke; GerhardPurr,

both of Mulheim, Ruhr, Germany [73] Assignee: Kraftwerk UnionAktiengesellschaft,

Mulheim, Ruhr, Germany 22 Filed: Sept. 12,1972 211 App]. 1965288300 [30]Foreign Application Priority Data [111 3,808,819 45] May 7,1974

3,719,045 3/1973 Hoffman 60/95 Primary Examiner--Edgar W. Geoghegan [57]ABSTRACT In a steam turbine installation, a condenser is disposed onboth sides of a low-pressure turbine and the condenser along with thelow pressure turbine are enclosed within a pressure-tight, cylindricalhousing. The housing supports both the low-pressure turbine andcondenser on an external foundation. The housing also includes aremovable V-shaped segment extending along the entire longitudinallength, of the housing and disposed at an elevation above the turbineshaft. The V-shaped segment is of such width that the inside casings androtors of the low-pressure turbine can be removed through the openingremaining after the V- shaped segment is removed.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMY Hm 8808.818 SHEET lUF 3 PATENTEBMAY 1 1974 SHEET 2 OF 3 PATENTEUMAY H914 3808819 sum 3 (IF 3 STEAMTURBINE INSTALLATION In steam turbine installations, it is customary toarrange the condenser for the steam which passes from the low-pressureturbine below the latter. However, the massiveness and large size ofsuch condensers require that very high foundation supports be providedfor the turbine. This also necessitates a great structural height forthe turbine housing.

I-leretofore, in order to reduce such large structural volume, US. Pat.No. 3,147,599 disclosed an arrangement wherein a condenser was disposedon both sides of a turbine and wherein the turbine and the condenserwere enclosed within a boxlike housing. However, this type of housing isnot free of problems regarding its stability in that the turbine proper,must be supported in the interior of the housing by an additionalfoundation support. Also, the sealing of such a square housing andparticularly the sealing of the access opening for the disassembly ofindividual turbine parts can be obtained only at high extra cost andexpenditure.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement of acondenser and low-pressure turbine which only requires a smallstructural volume which also has a large and efficiently arrangedsupport capacity, and which may be readily sealed.

To this end and in accordance with the present invention, a low-pressureturbine and a condenser are enclosed in a cylindrical pressure-tighthousing which supports both the low-pressure turbine and the condenser.The housing is supported on an external foundation. A removable V-shapedsegment is included on the housing at an elevation above the turbineshaft and which extends over the entire longitudinal length of thehousing, such V-shaped segment being of such width that the removal ofthe inside housings or turbine casings and of the rotors of thelow-pressure turbine can be effected through the opening which remainsafter the V-shaped segment is removed.

Thus, the cylindrical housing offers a compact and warp-resistant typeof construction so that the housing can support the condenser as well asthe low-pressure turbine. The V-shaped segment opening on the upper partpermits, on one hand, the easy removal of turbine parts while, on theother hand, providing for selfsealing at the separating line, or jointbetween the two parts upon re-installation of the V-shaped segment onthe housing.

In addition various auxiliary elements and parts can be integrated intothe housing. It is possible, for example, to dispose low-pressurepreheaters below the lowpressure turbine inside the housing, thearrangement being such that the preheaters may be pulled out underneaththe adjacent generator which is driven by the turbine. Furthermore,inlet lines for the auxiliary returns can be arranged to pass throughone front face of the removable V-shaped segment. The inlets and outletsfor the cooling water to the condenser may also be arranged to pass onone front face of the condenser. If the low-pressure turbine is of amultiflow arrangement, the bearing between the two low-pressure turbinesmay be separated from the condenser chamber, by curved partitions orseparating walls and connected with the upper side of the housingthrough an access passage so that inspection of the intermediate bearingis possible.

The construction and arrangement of the invention however, together withadditional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood fromthe following description of specific embodiments when read inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a steam turbine installation having ahigh, medium and low pressure turbine and also showing the generatorwhich is driven by the turbines.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the installation shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line III-Ill in FIG. 1 and showing thefront end face of the low pressure turbine and condensor housing.

FIG. 4 is a view showing the rear end face side of the turbine andlow-pressure turbine housing as seen from the generator.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view through the housing takenalong the line V-V in FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a transverse cross-section view through the housing takenalong the line VI'VI in FIGS. 1 and 5.

Referring to the drawings, FIGS. 1 to 4 show various outside views of asteam turbine installation. To facilitate the description and itscomprehension, only very simplified illustrations have been selected andthose parts that are not considered essential to an understanding of thepresent invention have not been included.

In the illustrated embodiment, a steam power plant installationcomprises a high pressure turbine l, a double-flow medium pressureturbine 2, and a low-pressure turbine disposed in a cylindrical housing3. The turbines drive a generator 4.

The cylindrical housing 3 encloses a condenser and also the low pressureturbine. The housing 3 has on its upper side, a V-shaped segment 5 thatextends over the entire longitudinal length of the housing 3 and whichcan be removed in an upward direction from the housing 3 so that thecasings and rotors of the low-pressure turbine can be removed throughthe resulting opening.

As seen particularly from FIG. 3, the outlet lines-6 from the mediumpressure turbine 2 pass into the front face 7 of the housing 3 and lead,inside the housing 3 to the individual low-pressure turbine stages. Atthe same time, the front side of the V-shaped segment 5 is provided withtwo connections 8 for the over-production or auxiliary return lines.

FIG. 4 is a view as seen from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1, thatis from the generator side, and shows low pressure preheaters 9 disposedbelow the lowpressure turbine. These low pressure preheaters 9 can bepulled out from beneath the generator 4, that is between the latter andits foundation supports 10.

- The inlet lines 11 and the outlet lines 12 for the cooling water ofthe condenser are also led to and from'the condenser tubes at the facesof the housing 3.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section through the housing 3 showing twodouble-flow low pressure turbines 13. The turbine shaft 14 for theturbines 13 is supported in hearings 15,16 and 17 with the front andrear bearing 15 and 17 being supported by foundation columns 18 and bythe generator foundation 10 respectively. The

center bearing 16 is mounted on the housing 3 through supported on aseparate outside-lying foundation 22 by means of brackets or abutments20 and hinged supports 21 as can best be seen in FIGS. 3 and 6.

As can best be seen in FIG. 6, the two condenser sections 23, that isthe two sections which include the condenser tubes 24, are disposedparallel to the machine axis and on both sides of the low pressureturbine 13. Each condenser section 23 is arranged in a segment which maysubtend or occupy a quarter of the circumference of the condenserhousing 3. The steam pouring out from the exhaust pipes of the lowpressure turbines 13 (one of the pipes 25 being shown in section in FIG.with the last row of turbine blades 26) can thus directly discharge intothe condenser sections 23. This means that a condenser pressure willprevail in the interior of the entire housing 3 so that the housingitself must be designed appropriately pressure-tight which isparticularly enhanced, however, by the cylindrical form of construction.The housing for the low pressure turbines 13 can be supported onprojections 34 on the condenser support walls.

Below the low pressure turbines l3 and within the housing 3, aredisposed low pressure preheaters 9 which are connected to the turbines13 through suitable steam draw off lines 27.

The center bearing 16 for the low pressure turbine is separated from theinternal condenser housing proper by means of curved sheets of metal 19and can be reached or is accessible through an upwardly extendingpassageway or chute 28. In the cross-sectional view of FIG. 6, thecontour 29 of the front face of the V-shaped removable segment 5 isillustrated by broken lines. As can be easily determined from this crosssectional view, after segment 5 is removed, it is a relatively simplematter to dismantle in an upward direction the housing of thelow-pressure turbines 13, as well as other turbine parts, and to movethem in an axial direction over generator 4. During the re-installationof segment 5, a particularly good sealing is provided at joint 29, sincethe latter abuts and fits closely at the opposite housing joint due tothe inclined or wedge shaped mating surfaces.

Installed into the segment 5 is also a curved sheet of metal 30 whichhas suitable openings not shown in the drawing. Asa result, the upperarea enclosed by the metal sheet 30 can be used as a plenum chamber orover-production area so that the steam arriving via inlets 8 in thefront-face side 7 can settle in this chamber and flow downward into theactual condenser chamber.

The condensate collects in a hot well 33 below the preheater 9 and canbe drawn off therefrom.

This cross-sectional view in FIG. 6 also illustrates the steam over-flowor return lines 8 which lead over con- The described arrangements of thecondenser and low pressure turbines in a cylindrical housing thusprovides a very compact and stable type of construction which eliminateshigh foundations and long exhaust lines for the turbine steam. Inaddition, the cylindrical configuration provides a goodpressure-tightness for the housing.

Upon a study of this disclosure it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that the invention permits various modifications and may begiven embodiments other than those particularly illustrated anddescribed herein, without departing from the essential features of theinvention and within the scope of the claims annexed hereto.

We claim:

1. A steam turbine installation comprising low pres-' sure turbine meanshaving a rotor mounted on a shaft and surrounded by a cylindricalturbine housing concentric with the shaft, at least one bearingsupporting the shaft, a pressure tight outer housing surrounding theturbine housing and concentric with the shaft, the outer housing havingcontinuous walls supporting the bearing, an external foundationsupporting the outer housing, formed in the annulus between the turbinehousing and the outer housing in respective arcuate segments of theannulus on each side of the turbine a respective condenser sectioncomprising a plurality of condenser tubes means adjacent the condensertubes for exhausting steam from the turbine directly into contact withthe condenser tubes, and the outer housing having a removable segment ofa generally V- shaped cross-sectional configuration with the apex of theV being disposed closest to the rotor shaft, the segment extending alongthe axial length of the outer housing, having V-shaped walls at its endsand being at least as wide as the turbine housing diameter.

2. A steam turbine installation according to claim 1 further comprisinglow-pressure preheaters disposed within said outer housing below saidturbine means.

3. A steam turbine installation according to claim 2 wherein saidturbine means drives a generator, said preheaters being constructed andarranged to be pulled out longitudinally underneath said generator.

4. A steam turbine installation according to claim 1 wherein auxiliaryinlet lines pass through one of the end walls of said removable segment.

5. A steam turbine installation according to claim 1 wherein saidcondenser sections have inlet and outlet lines for cooling water, saidlines passing through at least one of the end walls of said housing.

6. A steam turbine installation according'to claim 1 wherein saidturbine means comprises two lowpressure turbines, the bearing isdisposed between said two turbines, and the outer housing is providedwith wall means defining an access passage for said bearing.

7. A steam turbine installation according to claim 1 wherein said outerhousing is supported externally by mounting means on the sides thereof.

8. A steam turbine installation according to claim 1 wherein saidhousing has an upper and a lower space between said two condensersections, said upper space being occupied by said removable segment andsaid lower space being occupied by heaters.

1. A steam turbine installation comprising low pressure turbine meanshaving a rotor mounted on a shaft and surrounded by a cylindricalturbine housing concentric with the shaft, at least one bearingsupporting the shaft, a pressure tight outer housing surrounding theturbine housing and concentric with the shaft, the outer housing havingcontinuous walls supporting the bearing, an external foundationsupporting the outer housing, formed in the annuLus between the turbinehousing and the outer housing in respective arcuate segments of theannulus on each side of the turbine a respective condenser sectioncomprising a plurality of condenser tubes means adjacent the condensertubes for exhausting steam from the turbine directly into contact withthe condenser tubes, and the outer housing having a removable segment ofa generally V-shaped cross-sectional configuration with the apex of theV being disposed closest to the rotor shaft, the segment extending alongthe axial length of the outer housing, having Vshaped walls at its endsand being at least as wide as the turbine housing diameter.
 2. A steamturbine installation according to claim 1 further comprisinglow-pressure preheaters disposed within said outer housing below saidturbine means.
 3. A steam turbine installation according to claim 2wherein said turbine means drives a generator, said preheaters beingconstructed and arranged to be pulled out longitudinally underneath saidgenerator.
 4. A steam turbine installation according to claim 1 whereinauxiliary inlet lines pass through one of the end walls of saidremovable segment.
 5. A steam turbine installation according to claim 1wherein said condenser sections have inlet and outlet lines for coolingwater, said lines passing through at least one of the end walls of saidhousing.
 6. A steam turbine installation according to claim 1 whereinsaid turbine means comprises two low-pressure turbines, the bearing isdisposed between said two turbines, and the outer housing is providedwith wall means defining an access passage for said bearing.
 7. A steamturbine installation according to claim 1 wherein said outer housing issupported externally by mounting means on the sides thereof.
 8. A steamturbine installation according to claim 1 wherein said housing has anupper and a lower space between said two condenser sections, said upperspace being occupied by said removable segment and said lower spacebeing occupied by heaters.